Man who supplied gun used to kill grocer Singh is sentenced to federal prison
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- The United States Courthouse in Salt Lake City is pictured on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019.
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- Satnam Singh is pictured in an undated photo with his youngest daughter, who family asked not be named. Singh was shot and killed on Feb. 28, 2021, while tending to this Ogden convenience store, prompting a strong outpouring of support from the public.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Kaysville man who sold a stolen handgun to an Ogden teenager that was used to kill grocer Satnam Singh has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.
Relatives and a friend of Taydon Law, 22, wrote letters to U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart, asking that Law be put on probation with no time behind bars. But in a sentencing hearing Tuesday, Stewart ordered Law to spend 18 months in federal prison and then serve three years of supervised probation.
Last October, Law agreed to a plea bargain in which he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. The maximum sentence for the crime is five years in prison. A second charge was dismissed in return for the guilty plea.
The federal prison sentence will be served concurrently with any state prison terms, Stewart said. State court records show Law had two second-degree felony burglary convictions in Davis County in 2019.
Law’s case stems from the Feb. 28, 2021, slaying of Singh, 65, inside his Super Grocery store in Ogden. Prosecutors said Law provided a Ruger to Antonio Gianny Garcia, now 17, who pleaded guilty to two first-degree felonies in the shooting and is serving two consecutive sentences of five years to life in prison.
The Weber County Attorney’s Office tracked down the source of the handgun and the local prosecutors referred the case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City.
The Ruger was stolen in Park City, Weber County Attorney Christopher Allred has said, but further details about how Law got the gun to Garcia have not been divulged. Allred said Garcia “never did fess up” to how he obtained the gun.
On Feb. 22, the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Salt Lake City filed three character letters on Law’s behalf.
“Taydon is a good kid and is full of love and life,” his parents wrote in their letter to the judge. “He has made some bad choices, thinking he could do something a little shady to get ahead and make a little money. He was a dumb kid that made a quick dumb choice not realizing what it could turn into.”
They added, “We feel that the time he has spent incarcerated and on probation has been sufficient to teach him the desired lesson, and any more time spent in prison would actually be counterproductive.”
Law’s grandfather wrote that Law “is a good young man and has shown his desire to change.” He, too, urged no prison time, saying, “I read and hear stories of young men who were incarcerated that are changed forever and never quite fit into society no matter how hard they try.”
The robbery and murder of Singh devastated his family and shocked the Ogden community. He was an immigrant from India whose store on the north end of Ogden City was a neighborhood anchor. After his death, family, friends and customers attested to his positive influence in the community.
Garcia walked into the store late at night, selected a few items, drew the handgun and told Singh, “This is a stickup,” then fired several times. Singh was hit three times and died in the store.